For a long time, following in my mom's footsteps, I've chosen a "word of the year" to set the foundation of my goals and focus for the upcoming year. But honestly, I can't even remember what my word for 2023 was! I think the year before that was "abide", but just in general, my word has been more of a surface level, aesthetic thing to do for the new year.
If you've read my post from earlier this week, you'll know that my attitude for 2024 has been pretty different from years past. I'm much more prayerful going into it and have been seeking the Lord for His wisdom about what He desires for me to invest and pour into. In the same way, I brought this word of the year before the Lord and asked Him to put a word on my heart. I had quite a list of options, but one (or three) had a special place in my heart, and I cannot wait to see what the Lord is planning on doing in 2024!
But first - let's talk about the words I didn't choose.
1. Prayer
The word "prayer" was a big contender because, as you'll read in upcoming posts, a renewed focus and excitement of 2024 has been prayer and communing with the Lord. This will make more sense once a future post comes out, but prayer has been BIG on my heart, and I wanted to bring that into the new year.
2. Discernment
In 2023, I began praying for discernment and wisdom over some specific areas of my life, and I truly believe that in 2024, the Lord is going to grant me some of that discernment. One of the visions and prayers that I have for 2024 is that I will grow in understanding what the Lord desires for my life and move forward with such peace because I have received His word. While this isn't the word I chose, I still have a desire to grow in discernment and continue to become a godly, mature woman!
3. Purpose/Mission
Everyday in 2024, I want to wake up knowing that I am moving forward with purpose. I want every action, every word, and every decision to be carefully thought out and made on the foundation of what the Lord has put on my heart this season. I'm passionate about my mission, my ministry, and what the Lord is calling me to do, and I want to be a woman on a mission, driven to accomplish what the Lord has asked me to. So, even though I didn't choose the word purpose or mission, I still want to be intentional every single day!
And after all of that, after all the prayer and the many, many options, I chose.....drumroll please.....
EMBRACE!
I am SO excited about this word! First of all, doesn't it just have such a comforting connotation to it? I genuinely feel so happy inside allowing that word to bounce around my head.
But seriously, this word encompasses (or embraces, haha) so much of my focus for 2024. I want to embrace the Lord intimately and personally, as well as His design for my life, in a completely new way. I want to embrace my ministry and the Lord's promises for my life. I want to embrace my people and investing in them. I want to embrace the year prayerfully and joyfully.
To me, this word embrace almost means, "Yes Lord, whatever you want!". It feels like a surrender, a head first jump into the deep end and all that Jesus has called me to. With reckless abandon, I say YES and amen to the Father, and continue to run after Him with all that I've got. One dictionary says that "to embrace something is to welcome it with open arms, hold, hug, accept completely", and that's the way I want to approach my faith and this year as a whole.
A struggle that I've had in past years is actually remembering and implementing my word of the year for more than the first week of January. But this year, I'm working on creating some habits that will refocus me on embracing the Lord and His plan fully. And, I'm putting this word everywhere for me to see, so hopefully I'll be reading it so much that it never leaves my mind! Fingers crossed that I'll be able to post an update about how I remained committed to this word throughout the year!
I mentioned earlier that I may have chosen multiple words for this year, and I want to explain that further. Embrace is my overarching word, my overarching focus, but I also selected two other words to direct my mission, and those words are encourage and equip. I explained this in depth in my last post, which you can read here, but as I pray over the blog and these new opportunities that the Lord are opening up for me, I want to intentionally encourage and equip the people in front of me. Sometimes that's through a screen and Run the Race or Pinterest, sometimes that's in my community and small group, and sometimes it's with strangers. But in 2024, I felt really drawn to "encourage and equip", and it's fueled me up for how to move forward in a God-honoring way!
I'm really excited about this word for the year, and I pray that God will continue to teach and train me as 2024 goes on. Do you guys have a word for this year? If so, what is it, and what is your heart behind it? I'd love to hear about it, so let me know in the comments below!
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